When I was getting my facial done the lady was complimenting me saying I should be a model and I started blushing and said “too bad I’m not tall enough”. I tried to come back and say “the one good thing for me being shorter is that I can date within my height since I’m gay”.

A few topics later she told me about her brothers being gay and after awhile she told me that one of her brothers who passed away because of AIDS. I was telling her that nowadays people can take things (PrEP) to prevent HIV as well as the amount of treatment that people can live with HIV till 100.

She went into telling me that when their parents found out they bought a house right by where he worked so they could see him when he was dying. The parents thought her brother being gay was a choice but accepted him, which for the 1980s was an ally.

She also told me that people in the 1980s said things like “this was gods way of punishing gays” and her boss said “I don’t want any gays here”. She even lied to her coworkers about her brothers condition and said it was cancer.

I think the one that almost made me cry was when she said

“when he was dying he asked if I could lay next to him in the bed. I knew I couldn’t get anything from him and I loved him and never thought less of him because of him being gay or him having AIDS. he’s in a better place”.

Definitely something I’ll remember.